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Tag Archives: Trudi Canavan

After finishing the first book in the series, I had to start the next one, The Novice to see what happens to Sonea and whether the High Lord’s secret is discovered. I found book 2 of the Black magician Trilogy just as exciting as book 1. The story goes….

‘The most important attribute of a magician is knowledge . Without it his strength is useless.’ The magician’s eyes flickered to Sonea, ‘Even if his powers surface of their own accord, he will soon be dead if he does not gain the knowledge of how to control them.

Sonea knows the other novices in the Magicians’ Guild all come from powerful families, but she also knows she can turn to Rothen and Dannyl for help when she needs it. That is, until somone starts spreading malicious rumours about her — and Akkarin, The High Lord, steps in.

Promoted to Guild Ambassador, Lord Dannyl leaves for the Elyne court. His first order from Administrator Lorlen is to resume, in secret, High Lord Akkarin’s long-abandoned research into ancient magical knowledge. Not knowing the true reason for his journey, Dannyl is soon facing unexpected dangers.

Meanwhile, Sonea has almost forgotten the High Lord’s dark secret, but keeping the truth hidden may be a grave mistake.

Found the character a lot more interesting and complex. Had to work out how to fit/find her own place at the same time dealing with the whisperings over becoming the High Lord’s apprentice. In the meantime the dangers constantly faced by those she left behind in the city are a reminder that times aren’t safe. And is the High Lord responsible or is he trying to protect them all? Who do you trust?

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Finding it hard to keep up with putting notes down on the books I’ve read. The first Trudi Canavan book I read was The Magician’s Guild.This is book 1 in the Black Magician Trilogy.

The old magician paused. ‘If this young woman is a natural, we should expect her to be more powerful than our average novice, possibly even more powerful than the average magician.’

Each year, the magicians of Imardin gather together to purge the city streets of vagrants and miscreants. Masters of the disciplines of magic, they know that no ordinary lowlife can oppose them. But their protective shield is not as imprenetrable as they think.

Sonea, angry, frustrated and outraged by the treatment of her family and friends, throws a stone at the shield, putting all her rage behind it. She is amazed when it sails unrestricted through the barrier and knocks a magician unconscious.

The Guild’s worst fear has been realised . there is an untrained magician loose in Imardin who must be found before her uncontrolled powers can destroy herself and the city.

Found this an interesting reading and could not put the book down. Mostly I’m reading to find the characters interesting and believable and don’t try to evaluate the style, “moral” of the story type scenarios. If I don’t get into the characters or storyline within the first 10% of the book I don’t bother finishing reading the book. This book grabbed me from the first few pages.

The story of a young person from the wrong side of town putting the fear in the establishment because of her abilities but not for the same reason by everyone. There are those in the establishment who want to help her while others are driven by fear and self interest. There are twists and turns in the story and the presence of a black magician leaves you wondering whether he is a friend or foe.

The story begins with the traditional winter purge of the streets of Imardin, the capital city of Kyralia, of the “dwells”, the city’s poor under-class, by magicians who drive away the inhabitants of the city’s slums. The young gang members gather to throw rocks at the magicians who are protected by a magical shield —until Sonea, a young dwell, hurls a rock through their barrier and injures the magician Lord Fergun.

The Guild begins to fear that there is a rogue magician and begins searching for Sonea. Benign Lords Dannyl and Rothen lead the search into the slums as they are worried that Sonea’s increasingly-uncontrolled magic will harm her and those around her. Sonea though both distrusts the Guild for their apparent lack of compassion for the poor dwells and fears their reprisal for her accidental injury of Lord Fergun. She flees with her friend Cery seeking the aid of the shady Thieves, who see the value of having their own magician and take her under their care. With Cery, she sneaks into the Magician’s Guild in an attempt to gain knowledge of how to control her magic, and observes a black-robed magician covered in blood performing a strange rite on a servant. However, her attempt is unsuccessful, and Sonea continues to lose control of her powers, setting fire to her surroundings repeatedly, before Lord Rothen at last locates her.

Lord Rothen and the sinister Fergun fight for her mentorship, though Sonea herself is uninterested in training and only wants to return home to her friends and family. Lord Fergun attempts to sway Sonea to betray the Guild and thus “prove” that dwells are not fit to enter the Guild and goes so far as to kidnap and threaten Sonea’s friend, Cery, but Fergun’s plans are discovered and he will have to stand trial. In order to prove Fergun’s guilt, Sonea submits to a mental examination, or ‘truthreading’ by Administrator Lorlen, who, finding the memory of the black-robed magician, reveal it to be Lord Akkarin, head of the guild, practising black magic – which is forbidden in Kyralia. Sonea decides then to join the Guild and train her magical potential

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Just finished reading Trudi Canavan’s Priestess of the White. Have to say that I’ve really enjoyed it. She has brought together so many memorable characters and interwoven their stories that you just can’t put the book down. Stories really make you think about the parallels between the situations in the book and real life. How often have we heard about one group not trusting another or casting aspersions on another’s beliefs or customs?

The story follows Auraya who has just been named as a Priestess of the White, who is required to serve as a sword and shield of the gods – one of only five so honoured. She is tested throughout the book by both internal conflicts with her relationship with an outcast sect of sorcerer-healers, her vision of what the the outcast sect of sorcerer-healers can teach the priests/priestesses of the White and having her unique abilities tested so early on with ambassadorial duties for the White.

She is further tested when a powerful and mysterious black-clad sorcerer appears whose singular purpose is the annihilation of the White. The White realise that this sorcerer is not alone and that it would take all their abilities to defeat him.

Have enjoyed reading the story and could really sympathise with Auraya’s dilemma where she sees the treatment of the Dreamweaver’s as wrong, believes that there is a lot that they can teach the priests and priestesses that follow the White and her love for a Dreamweaver which pits her against her fellow White and could ultimately distroy her. I’m looking forward to reading the next one in the series which is Last of the Wilds.

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New Years resolution before the new year even comes in – will finish the current Trudi Canavan book Priestess of the White that I’m reading before the New Year 2010 starts! Need to do a review of it as well – will have to get my computer fixed first thought.

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I think I’ll continue to alternate between fantasy and science fiction in what I’m reading. I’m continuing to read Priestess of the White by Trudi Canavan (Age of the five, book 1). It’s proving to be interesting so far and I’m finding it just as enjoyable as the Black Magician trilogy. I will put up my thoughts about the books. This isn’t aimed at being a critical review of the books that I’m reading just my thoughts and reminders of what the stories were about, whether I enjoyed them or what I found puzzling/disturbing/difficult about them.